Christmas 2011

We had a busy Great Christmas this year. First we did a gift exchange with the Thompson's at my house earlier in the week. Then on Christmas Eve we went to Zaron's house and enjoyed a lamb dinner - Christmas dinner New Zealand style - I love it. Reminds me of Dad. The boys loved being with their cousins and palling around. They did lots of dress up and play. We did the Christmas story with a flanel board and sang some Christmas carols. The boys got to open up their new robes on Christmas eve. They both loved them but as I guessed, Xander in particular was huge fan. He loves clothes and accessories of any kinds - more then toys I think.

Then we had Christmas morning at my house with my in-laws. I did a yummy breakfast with puff pastry, and eggs benedict. Erica and Theo couldn't make it but Todd and Kari did and that was nice. My favorite gifts were the wall hangings Howard made for the boys. I am sure I love them much more then the boys. They are just such beautiful works of arts. And of course i love anything home made. We finished off the day at my in-laws for dinner where we saw the whole family. The boys were had gifts all day long. In fact they were opening up gifts all week long. It got to the point that whenever they saw a human they would ask where their gift was. Hmmmmm, seems like a flaw. Something to think about.

Well it was a fun, festive filled day. But know that the true season is to celebrate Jesus Christ and I am so grateful for his love and sacrifice for all of us. Happy Birthday Jesus.

Gingerbread House Extravaganza

We invited our neighbors the Walther's over for gingerbread house making. I made all the gingerbread houses by scratch earlier that day. When Mike saw them he said, "Wow, you have been busy. That must have taken a long time." I said, "I have never made gingerbread houses form scratch..........and yeah, it took me forever." 6 hours to be exact! I wanted to make a house per kid but it took so long that 2 had to share. Soren was more then happy to share with McKenzie. In fact we was so happy to be working with her, he was more then happy to let her have the gingerbread house when they were done.

I was so impressed how well all the kids did. Xander, Brandon (who are 4) and Craig (who is 2) stayed focus on their houses for about an hour. It was amazing. And to boot they only ate every 20th candy. Is that not amazing?! All in all it was a really great night until the the Walters were just leaving and Xander grabbed his house, slid it off the table and then proceeded to drop it. It shattered into 1o0 pieces and tears began to fly. So, after 6 hours of sweating over these houses, we had nothing to show for it because Soren gave his to Mckenzie and Xander's was now a complicated puzzle. However when the Walther's were leaving, Katie (the Walther's oldest and 7 year old) came running back in and gave her house to Xander. Isn't that so sweet! That dried up all the tears and I didn't have to spend the rest of the night trying to put back the house. Yeah for charity!!

Ooops

A couple of days ago I randomly and spontaneously remembered Rescue 911. It was my favorite show as a kid, and when I say kid I mean like 7 yrs old. I was a fan the moment I saw an episode. I loved everything about it. So I decided to google it to see if there were any episodes on line. There are a bunch on you tube so without thinking I said, "Hey boys want to watch my favorite show when I was a kid?" I didn't think much about it, I mean I watched it as a kid and loved it so surly it will be fine for my boys. I clicked on an episode randomly. It was about a little 4 year old who got sucked in the escalator. Some unknown way, the kid sleeve of this shirt got caught and then the back of his shirt got sucked in. They didn't shut it off for awhile and it continued to suck his shirt down that it started to strangle the boy. The pressure was so high from the strangling that it popped many of his superficial blood vessels on the skin of his face. It was actually quite traumatizing to watch. Soren started to cover his face and started to moan, "Mom, how can this be your favorite show as a kid?"

That question sort of made me laugh. I mean, he had a point, but it was. I loved this show. "Uh, well, I know he is in a lot of danger right now, but he is going to be alright in the end. Look, see all these nice strangers trying to help the boy? Isn't great to see people help each other?"

Soren still covered his face in horror with occasional moans of distress. I wondered if I should shut it off. I debated what was worse - seeing something traumatizing that isn't resolved with a happy ending or seeing something traumatizing and having that be the last thing in your mind. I decide to let them finish watching it. Xander never moaned, cringed, or covered his face. He laughed a forced laugh at times and pronounced his love of the show. It was all a little forced and I wondered if this was how he was dealing with stress. Xander happily reviewed how good he is at using the escalator and what he does to prevent problems (jump the gap).

Right after watching this show we went to Winco to pick up a few things before our trip to Whistler. On our way home Xander said, "I can't get that show out of my head." "Yeah me too" Soren joined in. That is when I figured I really screwed up my kids. Ooops.

Well today we were at the mall and took the escalator up to the second floor - per the request of both my kids. Soren jumped on with no problem. But Xander hesitated and I don't know what came over me, but I said, "yeah, that is the spot that little boy got stuck on." I was saying it more like a guided tour then to freak out my kid. I had already hopped on the escalator at this point and started going up. Xander stayed stationary and then cried out in horror terrified to go on by himself.........Yup, I screwed him up. You see, Xander is the one you have to watch. Soren wears all his emotions on his sleeve and hides nothing. Soren is comfortable being emotional. Xander on the other hand will act one way to cover his true feelings, so he doesn't really deal with his feelings until it all becomes too much. It is really strange. Who would have guess. I would have definitely thought that would be the other way around for the boys.

For the next 30 minutes we talk about how it is actually hard to get stuck in an escalator and if you use it correctly (standing) then you won't get stuck. Anything that helps promotes the proper use of things is always a bonus for my family. Then Xander began to review general emergencies.

"When I get my arm cut off I am going to call the policeman and not the fireman. I like policemen more then firemen."

"If I can't wake you mom, I will call 911, but I know how to wake you right?"

"Where is the stop button on the escalators? Can kids push them?"

"Do you know anyone that got their leg cut off an uses a fake leg. Can I see them?"

Ect.

Well, they seem to be dealing with it well....... I think. I just keep staying factual and give them options on how to deal with situations and that seems to keep them on the question side of curious instead of the emotional side. I can't help myself.

Oh Rescue 911, why do I love you so?

A Thompson Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was the best ever. It was a Thompson Thanksgiving and my sister-in-law Liz reserved a cabin about 1.5 hrs away from home up in the snow. The roads were fine getting up there, but there was step driveway that was covered in snow and ice and it took us over 2 hours to get everyone up there. However, once up the driveway, it was a beuatiful home. Wow! Huge and top of the line. Every family got their own rooms and there were 3 fire places. The best part was it had the best sledding hill just outside the house on the property. We had SO MUCH FUN! The kids played in the snow for 3 days straight. When we got cold we would just jump into the hot tub. The place was enchanting. Ryan was only able to come up for Thanksgiving day for the 4 day trip, but it was great when he came. The boys really loved playing in the snow with him.

I love kindergarteners!

Wow, the things a kindergartners can do.

About 2 months ago Soren surprised me one early morning with breakfast in bed! It was for no reason at all but just to show me he loves me. Sooo sweet! We have never done breakfast in bed for anyone, so I am not sure how exactly he came up with it or how he knew just what to do. He made me some cherios and fruit and a glass of milk all on a cookie sheet that he carefully brought into me with Xander in tow. Talk about make a mothers day! I couldn't believe how sweet/thoughtful/and capable Soren was.

This morning I woke up at 6:30am to a very excited Soren yelling "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom" as he dashed around the house looking for me. You see Xander had his tonsils out on Tuesday and we have had some rough nights. To help Ryan sleep better and decrease my distance on the very frequent trips of comforting and drug dispensing to Xander, I have been sleeping in the guest room for the last couple of nights. So needless to say, Soren didn't didn't know where I was.

"What is going on Soren?" I groggily slurred out.

"Mom, I am already for school. I even made my lunch." Soren was fully dressed and had his coat and backpack on. Life quickly flooded into me as I investigated this "lunch" he made. Could it be? Will I forever be off the hook of lunch making? I opened his lunch box to find a bag of chips, 5 pieces of candy, 5 little pickles nicely placed in a plastic bag, a plum and a sandwich tupperware box. "So far so good.....although perhaps we should cut down on the pickles and candy and perhaps add some carrots, but please this is a self initiated lunch - I am not going to be picky!" I thought to myself.

"Did you make a sandwich too?" I inquired as I began opening the tupperware.

"Yeah, but the bread is a little weird."

I have been making all our bread for a couple of months now and so you have to cut your own bread slices to make a sandwich. His sandwich was a turkey and cheese sandwich and the bottom crust although uneven was one piece, but the top crust was a jigsaw puzzle of 3 pieces - but still oh so edible. Wow, was I impressed. "Your hired" I thought to myself.

Q -"Soren, that is so great. You did a wonderful job. Wow! You are such a big boy. Thank you!"

Soren beamed as he stated, "Yeah, so I am already for school. Lets go!"

Q - "Well, I am sorry to be a barrier of bad news but it is 6:30 in the morning and school isn't for another 2.5 hrs. Your friends are probably still sleeping. Sorry kido. Why don't you make something with your legos." And so he did.

As I dropped him off to school my mind has been thinking of all the independent possibilities.

In the world right now, there is a disturbing pattern in some young adults that come from functional, loving, hardworking families, but these young adults are a little handicapped in life. They struggle making things happen for themselves, have poor self esteem, don't have many skills ect. They often have even gone through college, gotten a degree in something, but still are what I call "floating" around. I have noticed this a lot amongst people I knew from high school and have reconnected with via facebook. I have also read several articles confirming what I have noticed. Even close people I know, come from families with very handy Dad's, but often the sons are not handy at all. What is going on?! One of the things I want most for my boys is if they want something, they will have enough self-esteem, knowledge, determination, and/or confidence to go out and get it - whatever that "thing" is. So this little pattern I have seen disturbs me greatly, because like I have said these adults come from great, involved families. So what is happening? My sister Janea told me about a good friend of hers that is very handy, capable, and hardworking. She told me all his siblings are like that and they learned everything from their Dad. You see, their Dad has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. His father must be brilliant because although he can't physically fix a leaky pipe, he somehow learned how and so his kids were his hands for him. As the father sat in his wheel chair passing tools to his kids, he gave them directions to fix and build what they needed. End result - highly capable, hardworking and confident children. As I pondered this I realized that I came from a family of 8 with a lot of financial issue and parents that were stretched quite thin at times. My mom would describe many of my younger years at "just surviving." Because my Mom and Dad were stretched so thin and couldn't pay for the holes, they were depended on us to step up and be responsible. They couldn't give us everything we wanted. Some of my siblings might argue they couldn't give most things they wanted. Needless to say, we had to be very involved to make happen what we wanted. Turns out this lack of ability to provide, provided us with way more skills and abilities that has served us with even greater rewards ever since. Even though we all have different interest, all my siblings are very capable in what interest them. And despite our handycaps (like ADD, dyslexia, turrets, poor memories ect.), we all pretty much have positive self-estems and think we can do anything.

So, as mother of 2 with finances way better then my parents, how do I make sure my kids get what I really want them to have, confidence, capabilities, hard work ethic and positive self esteem - because it seems being a loving, good, providing family, doesn't always get you these results. What my society says I should provide my kids with do not seem to be the key one needs to unlock these attributes. This is something I must ponder now, because it is apparent to me that today I build the foundation and the frame work for such attributes. Today Soren reminded me he is way more capable then I have given him credit for. I hope my own selfishness of saving time, getting things done "right", preventing messes ect, doesn't clip his wings. This boy wants to fly. My situation isn't forcing me to depend on him to rise to the occasion. So now I have to figure out this balance since I have so many options. Options are really great, but if you want the best then you have to choose wisely.......and when you have kids young and have options, that means you have to get smart fast. I hope I can pull this off.

No good deed goes unpunished!

Last night we were doing some "ding dong ditches" Halloween style. We targeted our neighborhood predominantly. The boys and I made some sugar cookies and frosted them - they looked very homemade but also were very tasty despite the extra ingredients. Cooking with my boys can be somewhat challenging because they are so excited to be a chef, they struggle not taking the lead. Every time I turned my back to rinse my hands they would take handfuls of flour, an extra egg, more vanilla ect - to the batter.

"Deep breath Quinae, we can fix this. Just because it seems like they want to destroy everything you do with them, doesn't mean they actually want to. They are just excited. Yeah, that's it."

When we were rolling out the cookies Soren was basically rolling in the flour too. I really should have taken a picture of him. It was quite impressive. No matter, we survived the cookie making activity with only one banishment per kid - that is pretty good since this was a several step process.

The boys were pretty excited to give the cookies out. We walked around the neighborhood in the dark which was enchanting in of itself. And then to knock at someones door and run as fast as you can and hide sealed the deal of awesomeness in my kids eyes. We have done this activity a few other times as a family but this time was so much more fun because they were excited about giving away the cookies instead of concerned that they weren't going to have enough for themselves. Yes! Service point #1. We have arrived! As we were walking back to our car holding hands in the dark talking about how fun it was to do something nice f0r people, I thought, "It is all worth it. This is the moment of joy to remember. I love my little family."

Now fast forward about 15 minutes later as we are hitting up another house that we chose to drive to. I try to quiet the excited giggles, we ring the door bell and we are off. Xander gets ahead start and I hear a "smack"! Oh crud he tripped on the single step that is pretty much invisible in the dark. I run and scoop him up before the breath is fully drawn to let out the scream of pain. 3 steps down the driveway I hear another "smack!" Soren has gone down right behind us on the same step. Ahhhh! Staying anonymous seem imposible as I rush two screaming boys down the drive way and around the corner where our car is, all the while trying to hold in my laughter. I mean really? Their knees are bloody and their hands are red and they cry in pain feeling betrayed by service. I try to console them best I can but it is all so funny and I can't quite rein in the laughter.

Silver lining - we had one more house we had planned to do, and despite the pain and blood they insisted on finishing the job. "Mom, we need to give out those cookies." Yes! Service point #2!

I love my little bloody family.

13.1

That is right! I am now part of the half marathon club. 3 of my good friends were signed up for a half marathon that was 2.5 hrs away. Crazy I thought. Why would you do a race so far away? You would have some serious child care issues. And then I realized that if you resolved your child care issues, you would then have a mini trip. Hmmmmmm. Plus I have always wanted to run a marathon just to run a marathon and knew I needed peer pressure so thought I might give it a whirl. So I ran 8 miles with my friends 6 weeks ago and it went really well, so I signed up........and then the next day happened and I was soooooo sore! I was regretting that decision immediately. Turns out I am really quite busy too and to find the time to train properly was difficult. With Ryan's unusual schedule of working a week on and a week off, I really didn't run much his week on because I would have to run between the hours of 8pm to 5am - and lets face it, those are my useless hours. Then of course I was working more then normal getting trained in the ER so my training was full of holes and the longest I ever ran was 9 miles with very little running during the last 3 weeks before the race. As the date approached I realized I am going to need something more then training to make me successful. So I devised a plan. I was going to capitalize on visualization, positive thinking, prayer and trial my sister homeopathics. I know, you guys are laughing at me right now, but that is all I had to work with at this point. I also knew from my past endurance activities, success is largely your frame of mind and merely just keeping your body moving.

The day before the race I dropped my boys off at my sisters (Ryan was working) and headed down with one of my friends to stay at her parents house that was 30 min away from the race site. I had psyched myself out for success by this point, was confident and very optimistic - To accomplish this I just disconnected the rational part of my brain and ignored the lack of miles that I had logged. It was as simple as that. It was almost a running joke between the two of us. The weather was suppose to be terrible on race day with a 60% chance of rain and temps in the 50's, but I was positive it was not going to rain and 55 deg is perfect running weather - right everybody? (I swear there has been more then once that sheer positive thinking has staved off bad weather for me - and so I applied it now. History had my back.) The course was described as "rolling hills." We all wondered what that meant and when we saw the "rolling hills" our hearts sunk just a bit. But what does a positive thinking semi-delusional person say? I am glad you asked. They say, "oh, no worries. As you get closer the hills get flatter. It won't be a problem at all." Again the rational portion of my brain had been disconnected so this was an easy sell. You don't even want to know how homeopathics work. All you need to know is if they work, and that day, they would. I just knew it.

And so the race began. As I began running I told my self stuff like, "Quinae, this is your reality now. Get use to it. You are going to be doing this for a long time. It is not a problem, it is just your new reality. Adjust." This speach with some good moving music, I felt pretty good. I hit a wall around 7- 8 miles which honestly is delayed for me. I usually hit a wall at 4 miles, so I was well pleased. The 4 mile wall though is usually psychological and this wall was a fatigue one which was pretty much right on time. It was just harder to move my legs. They were tired. So, I visualized my fat stores breaking down glucose, and flooding my blood stream for some quick fuel for my muscles for about a mile. This didn't really get me results. So, I said, "Body, you are just going to have to figure out how to do it, because I am going to expect more from you starting now." The reason why this thought even came into my head is because I have noticed there are some people that can get so much better and consistent behavior out of my kids and one of my theory is because they expect more (and are really consistent) and the kids eventually rise the occasion. I wondered if this would work with my body. I was the boss of it doggonit. It was just going to have to figure out a way to please the boss. I picked up my pace a bit and it actually seemed to work. My legs were still tired but it wasn't as hard. Hitting the 9 mile marker was uncharted territory, but "it is not problem. I am just running for a really long time. That is all. That is just what I do." At 11 miles we hit our biggest hill. "That is okay. No worries. It going to be hard, but that is what I do. I am a doer of hard things. In a few minutes it will be over. All I have to do is keep moving." Mile 12 - this is where I had to really yell at my pscyche. Knowing I was so close and there was only one mile left was when I wanted to get distracted and expect the end at every turn. I tweaked my ipod for my best running songs and knew I just had to run through 2 last songs. "Ignore the next curve. You have to get through 2 songs before the next curve can mean anything. Remember this is just what you do! You are a doer of.... " and then without permission another voice said, "Oh shut up! I know the end is near." Apparently my rational brain turned back on. "ignore the mean voice behind the curtain." I tried to save face. Sigh "legs just please, please don't stop that is all I am asking."

For the last half of the race there was a girl that I kept passing and she kept passing me. The last .5 miles she passed me again. Till now the longest race I had ever done was an 8K (5 miles ish) and I was 16. However, on all my past races I can usually give a good sprint in the last 100 yards or so. So I banked on that because I couldn't seem to keep up with her at that moment. In the end I was surprised I could sprint at all, but sprint I did and we tied. It was awesome. We both giggled as we crossed because once she caught wind of what I was doing she started to book it too. It was absolutely anaerobic those last 100 yards. That sprint sucked every last ounce of oxygen out of my muscles - I was almost numb, but it was totally worth it.

I crossed in 2:01 and 44 seconds. I was very pleased. It was faster then my training pace. My goal was 10 min miles and this logged me at 9:18 min miles.

Verdict

-I won the psych race of a half marathon. - Even though it was hard it was not emotionally painful at all which when it comes to running and me, that is saying something. I totally believe in personally psyching myself for success. Based on my training this should have gone much worse. The human mind rocks.

-I am so happy with the results. Yeah, it may not be that fast but it was the best that I could do.

-I do not have a need to do a Marathon -EVER

-I don't have a need to do a 1/2 marathon - ever again either

-I re-learned that running is not that fulfilling to me compared to other physical activities

- Even though I don't really like running, I love the energy of races and will probably keep doing them. 10K is now my personal max - guilt free.

P.S. It never rained. The weather really was perfect running weather.

My son Calvin

Every day last year, when I asked Soren what he did or learned at preschool he would say something like, "We talked about dinosaurs." Or "we learned about purple dinosaurs." ect. Every time he said he only learned about dinosaurs. Whatever. It is preschool. He is 4. No big deal. Well, first day of kindergarten I pick him up and I ask,

Q "How was school?"

S "Good."

Q "What did you do?"

S "We talked about dinosaurs."

What?! He had all summer to forget this little answer but no luck. We are back to the dinosaurs. It has been 3 weeks and that is still more or less what he says. There was once when he gave a different answer. He said they ate pickles and marshmallows on pepperoni pizza. - Still no where close to truth.......I am assuming. Today he actually volunteered information about school.

S "Guess what I did today?"

Doth my ears deceive me? He actually wants to tell me something about his day? I excitedly say, "What did you do today?"

S "I rode on the back of a dinosaur. It was just bones. I rode on the bones of a dinosaur."

This is when it struck me. Soren is like Calvin in Calvin and Hobbs. He must be day dreaming all day about dinosaurs. So for him, that is all he did that day. Awesome. I live with Calvin. Have you ever noted the state Calvin's mother is usually in?! Yeah, I do live with Calvin. Soren is less malicious then Calvin, but Xander fills that gap. Xander enjoys a good torture activity for some poor soul.

So realizing this potential I decided to ask an important question.

Q "Soren, do you go to time out very often at school?" You see, I rationalized that if he is like Calvin, he will be in time out very often.

S "Yeah, I go to time out everywhere I go everyday"

Q "What do you mean?"

S "When I am in class I go to time out. When I am at lunch I go to time out. When I am at recess I go to time out."

Q "Why do you go to time out?"

S "Because I don't follow direction. I don't obey."

Okay, this is probably true. The boy becomes deaf whenever convenient. Just 20 minutes before this conversation Soren comes up with the great idea to make chocolate milk and starts making it without asking. I didn't want him to make chocolate milk because he just ate a brownie. I am 4 feet away and I tell him to stop.

Q "Soren no chocolate milk. Soren stop. Soren I don't want you to have that. Soren stop." But he just kept on going until Ryan took it away from him. At which point he says,

S "Sorry, my ears didn't work."

-Uh huh. He loves playing the innocent victim. And so I fear that Soren is actually telling the truth about his time out activities. In fact, the other day I got a message from someone at school saying Soren and another boy were playing too rough and they had been warned several times but didn't stop and so they are both missing recess. With this new added information I wondered more about this phone call. I originally thought, okay, no big deal that happens at home too. But now I wonder how many times has he been doing that. Are phone calls to home not that common? Should I be reading more into this. Oh dear.

Back to the above conversation I searched for more information.

Q "Why don't you follow directions? Do you not want to?"

S "No, I want to follow directions very much."

He said this so sweetly and sincerely it almost broke my heart.

Q "So why don't you?"

S "I don't hear her." - we have had his hearing checked several times even at the request of his preschool teacher. His ears hear sound fine.

Q "The Dr. says your ears hear just fine. You just aren't paying attention so that is why you can't hear her. We are going to have to think of something to help you."

........I am still thinking. How do you teach this to a 5 year old? Uhg. I don't know what to do.

To the teacher we go. What will she say.........

9/28 Update. When I asked if Soren has gone to time out the teacher replied, "We don't have time out." After a more in depth discussion I concluded that Soren was average in his behavior and verified it by saying, "So what you are saying is Soren is still in the realm of normalcy?" I guess that is weird to say because she laughed and bit and said yes. Sweet! Now, how to I code what he tells me about his day?

First day of school

Well, my life changed forever this week. Soren is now in all day Kindergarten and Xander is in preschool 4 days a week for 2.5 hrs. Wow!

Soren has been looking forward to the first day of Kindergarten since the second quarter of preschool last year. So when the day arrived he was psyched. We are walkers despite the mile distance on a busy road. So, the sun was out and Xander was at the dentist with Dad, so I decided to walk with him. It took 20 minutes and that is with me almost dragging him.......I am not so sure about this walking thing. Regardless he was so happy. He said, "Mom, I am just so happy. I am going to be smiling all the way." He wasn't scared or nervous at all. As we were walking I asked him if he was nervous about not knowing anyone and he said, "No, I like meeting new." I just wanted to give him a big hug and kiss right there. I love that trait.

I missed Xander's first day. I have a new job in the ER and am being trained right now so am working more. Xander has also been looking forward to that day all summer long. He loves going to preschool. In fact he rides the the school bus both ways which makes my life so easy. I love school buses. I must admit it is a bit strange to buckle your 4 yr old child on the bus and wave them off. He loves it and it is a bus only for preschoolers.

I don't get a lot out of the boys when I ask what they did, or who they played with ect. I am going to have to volunteer in their classrooms to learn anything about their day I think. I am so proud of the boys for transitioning so well and being so positive. They are great kids.

Apples for sale

The other day I was working out in the shop and the boys were running around outside. I noticed they started dragging our camping chairs around and this is what I found.

The fact they were so close to the road startled me but what was really worrysome was the question, why are they sitting down? Something must be going on. This was prime run around time. I investigated further and found them each with a bag of cut up apples from our tree out back in a bag.

Q "What are you guys doing?"

S "We are selling apples."

I thought this was funny and cute and thought it might entertain them for at least 20 minutes, so I encouraged them.

Q "You need a sign Soren. Go draw a picture of an a apple and write the word sale."
Quick to do a craft Soren ran off to accomplish the task. Ah - entertainment for 5 more minutes. This is great! I didn't think anyone would actually stop by, otherwise I would have coached them more and helped with the sign a bit. So about 10 minutes later I was surprised when I heard talking on the drive way. I went out to see what was going on. An older German woman with a great accent was haggling with the boys.

This kind woman said, "You have budding entrpenueres on your hands. I had to bargen down from 2$ an apple slice to 50 cents an apple slice."

I sheepishly laughed and then praised her on her generosity. Once she drove away I quickly wrote an appropriate price on the sign. 5 cents a slice or 25 cents an apple. The boys were so thrilled by their business deal they ran off picking a whole bowl full of apples.

Their next and final customer was a friend dropping off some things of mine. she bought 4 apples for a whole dollar. A whole bill! Soren was in Heaven. He carried the dollar around with him for days.

This is definitely Ryan's side of the family coming through. Apparently Ryan was know around the neighborhood to sell dirt.

The Coin

Last weekend we went camping with 6 other families. It was so fun and we are repeating the adventure this coming weekend. We camped at a luxury campground where they had a swimming pool, miniature golf, a little pond/lake that you could canoe on ect. There was also a near by lake that we jet skied and tubbed on. It was really fun. When I think of this trip the biggest constant for me was how funny Soren was. He is in this stage where he says the funniest things.

On the first night we are at the lake and having a picnic dinner and swimming. Soren is at a different picnic table from me. A few minutes later he come over,

Soren, "Mom, I swallowed a coin and my throat hurts."

Q "What?! You swallowed a coin? What do you mean you swallowed a coin?"

S "I was sucking on a coin and it accidentally slipped down. Last time when I did this I could get it back out. But this time I can't."

Q "What? What do you mean last time you could get it back up? Why are you sucking on coins? Here drink this water. "

The coin passed further down slowly. 15 minutes later he is feeling much better and ready to play. Through more investigation we determine the coin is a penny. Before he runs off to play we review wise council.

Q "Soren, what are you going to do if you find a coin again?"

S "I am going to throw it back into the ocean."

Q "Are you going to ever put it in your mouth again?"

S "No."

Q "Why not?"

S "Because I already have one in my body."

..........not instilling confidence.

Wanting to make sure the coin passes without problems I instruct Soren to let me know when he poops so I can investigate. Ah the glory of motherhood. A day in a half later at breakfast Soren comes running from where he is playing and yells,

"Mom, I need to go to the port o potty. The coins going to fall out!"

Nice.

On a less gruesome note, Soren got a lot of "girlfriend" time in. McKenzie was at the campout.

Some of my favorite lines of his were,

While carying a plate of fruit yelling, "Kenz, Kenz, I want to share some food with you. Kenz, come here!"

After a full day of play at the beach with McKenzie, while we drove away Soren says with a big sigh, "Tomorrow I am going to just spend some time with my girlfriend."

Q "Oh? What are you going to do?"

S "Just spend time with her and having fun."

Is he hearing these lines somewhere?

At one point it was starting to get dark and we were all packing up to go when McKenzies mom said a bit worried, "Does anyone know where McKenzie is?"

Q "Hmm, well where is Soren?

Sure enough, down the beach was Soren and Mckenzie just talking and sitting in the sand and sort of playing in it. I need to hang around those two more. Ease drop a little. What do 5 year old love birds talk about anyway?

Girlscamp

I went to Girls camp this year as the camp nurse. I haven't been back since I was a 4th year leader when I was 6 months pregnant with Soren.....for 6 years ago. Man it was so fun. I really am made for girls camp. It is strange because the type of "camping" really isn't my cup of tea. I veiw myself as a "real" camper - or more ideally I would like to be backpacking. But getting together with a lot of awesome woman and girls joking, laughing, being goofy and loving each other compensates for the style of "camping". My co-nurse was Cathy Gilman and I LOVED her. She was perfect. She is a labor and delivery nurse and so I assigned her to comfort anyone who needed some TLC and I would do any life saving or procedural interventions. But the best part about Cathy was on the first morning when she walked into the medical tent and said, "Whatcha doing?" "Oh I am writing a song we are going to sing at role call." and she replied without missing a beat, "Okay." She was the best partner EVER! We did these medical song each morning reminding the girls to drink water and eat healthy and do morning excersizes. The girls loved it and we were superstars. It was so much fun. When I would go to the stage I would just raise my arms up in the air like they should be screaming for me and they would just scream and cheer louder. I seriously felt like a superstar. It was strange and fun all at the same time.
The leaders get to camp a day in advance to get ready for camp. I was itching to lash something. My mom was my leader my first year at girls camp and she taught us how to lash water stations, wash stations and the like - something she taught me in normal camping too. I always thought it was so cool to make stuff out of rope and sticks and limbs. And so, coming back to girls camp, I knew I needed to lash something. I didn't know what until I got there. I realized we needed more organization for our medical supplies.

Meet my shelf. It was awesome. For the first few days people would come by just to see the shelf. it was that cool.

Girlfriends

You may think this title is for me. Where I blog about all the girlfriends I have and love. Well, although I should do that, that is not what this title is for. This title is for Soren's girlfriend. That is right, by son has his first girlfriend. He has asked several girls to marry him last year in preschool, but this is his first girlfriend - or so he tells me. Today after church he comes running up to me and whispers, "McKenzie and I are boyfriend and girlfriend.

Quinae, "Oh? How do you know that?"

Soren, "We just decided now in the hall. We both said we would be each others boyfriend and girlfriend."

Not knowing what to say I just said, "Well, congratulations Soren."

McKenzie is our 6yr old neighbor directly behind us. We don't have a fence between us and the kids go over to each others houses freely. She is adorable as all the kids are over there and there is no way he isn't going to fall in love with her and perhaps all her sisters. The first thing I thought was, "Awesome. My son is already in love with the girl next door. His life is going to be filled with drama and heart ache." After getting home from church and thinking more of this I thought we should talk more of the subject.

Quinae, "Soren, did you know the prophet taught us we shouldn't date until we are 16?"

Soren, "Yeah, primary taught me that."

Surprised and doubtful, I decided to investigate this more.

Quinae, "What is dating?" (we have never talked about dating or girlfriends for that matter)

Xander jumps in with, "I know what dating is. Dating is when 2 people go off with each other."

Soren, "Yeah and they go to a movie and eat dinner.

Wow, maybe primary has taught this.

Investigating Soren's knowledge more I ask, "What do boyfriend and girlfriends do?"

Soren, "I don't know. Well, actually I do but it is a secret."

Trying to get some early brain washing in I say, "Actually real boyfriend and girlfriends always tell their mom's everything they do."

And without missing a beat Soren said, "Not this boyfriend."

I laughed out of shock and stress.

15 minutes later Soren shows me a card that has hearts and his name on it. He was trying to spell the word dancing but screwed up and ended up cutting it out. He then announced his intentions.

Soren, "Mom, can I run over and give this to McKenzie?"

Quinae, "What is it?"

Soren, "It is a card for a dance show."

Quinae, "What is a dance show?"

Soren, "A dance show is when she comes over to my house and I dance for her..........and then we eat dinner."

Quinae, "Is that a date" That kind of sounds like a date."

Soren, "No, it is just dancing and dinner."

I promptly called McKenzie's Mom to relay this whole story as Soren gives the card to McKenzie in the backyard.

Alita, "Wow, good luck with that"

Quinae, "Hey, I am calling you for advice!"

I never in a million years thought I would talk about dating with my 5 year old boy.

He really does love girls and beautiful girly things. When I came back form girls camp my fingernails were painted and I was wearing a necklace, but my hair was disheveled and my clothes were dirty. Upon my return, in true awe and appreciation Soren declared, "Mom you're so beautiful!" And then he touched my necklace and stroked my nails.

That evening we went to a friends for a BBQ and there was a pretty woman with painted nails, nice makeup and done up hair. At some point in the evening he picked a perfect rose from the garden, walked up to her and smiled and gave it to her and walked away. She was so amazed by the gesture she couldn't help but talk about it for 10 minutes. Later I was talking to her and Soren came up to me to ask a question. Before he could I said, "Soren, I heard you gave this lady a rose. That was so nice." He embarrassingly smiled and briefly buried his face in my elbow.

He is so cute........and I am totally scared for the future.

Hiking Hiccups

We have been trying to go hiking at least every other week this summer. The boys have loved it and so have I. We go on 2 - 4 mile round trip hikes. Soren hikes like a pro but Xander get tired easier and at times can dawdle.

One hike we hiked up to a lake with poor access. I am always trying to find a 2 mile hike fairly local up to lakes - this is not that easy. I was so excited about this one but the final destination was a little less then picturesque. The only access was this area with a log jam. The boys thought it was great though and wanted to walk out on the logs and eat their lunch. These logs are floating in shallow water. Although I knew they wouldn't die, I was worried about them falling in, getting soaked and freezing the rest of the hike. However, keeping off the logs deemed too hard.

They did great balancing walking on them, which was good because despite repeatedly reminding them of the looming threat of getting wet, they kept going back and forth from land to log. Finally it was time to leave and head back down. I called them to come and they delightfully obliged. Soren got on land like a pro and Xander was right behind him. 12 inches from land, he fell of. HE FELL OFF! Into the lake. It was only 12 inches deep but he fell sideways and totally submerge himself. That is not easy to do. The fear had been realized. I sighed as he screamed in horror at the flash of freezing. I stripped down a screaming Xander slowly taking in his clothing options. This is what we came up with.

Luckily he didn't have his jacket on at the time of the fall and I wrapped Soren's windbreaker on like a skirt. He had to wear his wet shoes and underwear. After giving him a sucker Xander didn't complain much.

Year one of brain washing my kids into loving the great outdoors - check.

Working Mom

I got a new job working at Good Samaritan Hospital in their ICU. I had been working at a long term ventilator specialty hospital for the last 1.5 yrs as there were few positions open in other hospitals. Regional Hospital (my old job) was fairly close to my house, paid well, and was very accommodating to when I wanted to work. However the patient population was not my favorite. I worked with people who were very difficult to get off the breathing machine and so they were often all around very sick and had sad stories and most, with poor outcomes. Before I went to work there, I was thinking of not working in the ICU anymore because it was so sad and draining. Well, now I am so excited to work in the ICU again where there is so much hope and happiness.

Good Samaritan puts their new employees through a very thorough orientation. It lasted 1.5 weeks of full time 8 hr days. Remember I have been an agency nurse for years so I am use to walking in to a new hospital, not know where anything is, how to chart or who anyone is and get a 5 min orientation around the unit and begin working. Although it was long and at time boring, I am very glad to get some orientation. It makes me think the hospital is smart and cares. So far I have been really impressed with Good Samaritan and am very excited to start on the floor on Monday.

So for this last week and a half, it gave me a taste of what it would be like being a working mom in "real life" meaning, the hours normal people work - 8-5pm everyday. One day I went to work, came home and ate dinner and spent about an hour with my family and then went to a meeting. It was wild. It gave me new perspective about what the Dad's go through as it was a typical schedule for a lot of my friends husbands.

So this is what I got out the week in this new perspective.

• When you work full time it shifts your whole perspective. Instead of thinking of my kids and family and what needs to be done at home, I thought of work, since that is what I was doing. Soren had his first field trip and I didn't send him off or welcome him home and I wasn't a volunteer. Instead I was behaving like a working professional in my business casual clothes reviewing Good Samaritans policy on running a code.
• My kids are loyal to the one who they see the most. Just after 3 days of me working and Ryan home, they didn't want to have anything to do with me. What?! "I want to sit by Dad." "No I want to sit by Dad."
• There is very little to no free time. The last 4 days of my training, Ryan worked too so we had Grandma's and a friend watch the boys (thank you all!!). I would pick up the boys at 5 or 5:30 and then do the dinner bedtime routine and then get ready for the next day.. The weekend Ryan had to work so I was just doing boring maintenance stuff trying to get caught up over the weekend.
• I am so lucky to get to stay home most the time. I love staying home with the boys, even when they drive me crazy and I call one of you up exasperated from the last event. I could very easily work full time or even more then just a day a week, but I do not want to. Sometimes I feel like I have to defend that position even to some surprising people in my life, but defend I will because no matter how enticing advancing my career may seem, advancing my motherhood seems even better.
• I am so lucky to be able to work a little at a job that I love, pays well and is very mom friendly. True there are times when I feel like all I do is take care of people at home and then escape to work only to take care of more people, and yes there are parts I could do without, but over all I am very very happy to be a nurse and so lucky to be able to make some money for my family if/when they need it.

Overall assessment - working full time 8 hr days is terrible. I love my normally abnormal schedule.

Biking Orcas Island

Over memorial weekend the boys and I went on a 4 day bike trip to Orcas Island. Ryan had to work and didn't want to come anyways so it worked out well for all. This is a trip that my sister Rochelle has gone on for years and their family loves it. I wanted to go last year but without Ryan I thought Xander might die with a 2:1 ration child to adult. I decided this year he was better at following direction and felt more comfortable going by myself. I am glad we did because it was a BLAST! There was a group of 63 this year (smaller then years past). The group consists of families - boy heavy in gender. No problems for me because that also describes us. The ride is 13 miles and incredibly hilly. Despite my drive to find a double tow behind, we continued with our usual bike set up - Xander in a chair up front and Soren in the back peddling. I have done this bike set up for the past 2 summers, however turns out every year kids get heavier. I calculated I was probably carrying 110 - 120 extra pounds. There is a hill that is a mile long. Needless to say I did some hill walking, all the time resolving to get in better shape - I don't believe in hill walking. Riding to the campgrounds pretty much kicked my hinny hoe. But, it was sunny and beautiful that day and the san juan islands with sun is probably one of the most beautiful places. It is so charming that you temporarily forget the horrific reality of ferries and lack of employment and think to yourself, "I wish I could live here."When we arrived we saw this beautiful campgrounds and facilities. Camp Moran is delightful. These picture are particularly for my local friends in trying to convince you to go on this trip with me next year. Isn't dreamy?? There is hiking, swimming in the lake, fishing, canoeing, campfires, games and more. All breakfast and dinners are provided and you only have to help once in the kitchen either cleaning or preparing. My kids had so much fun helping clean up that they wanted to help out every time after that. The people who put this one are so friendly and nice and were always happy for extra hands - even little ones.

The camp is on a cute lake. It had a great dock and the kids enjoyed unsuccessful fishing and swimming in 65 degree weather. I enjoyed watching.

There seem to always be people playing games in the lodge. Soren learned about chess from his 6 year old cousin. I was busy with the 3 year olds so I don't know the sort of rules they decided on but whatever it was Soren loved it. Soren now can set up the board correctly and plays away - not always with an opponent. Kings, Queens, knights, castles - that is right up his alley. My boy looks like a genius in this picture as he contemplates how to crush his opponent. Your going down Jaden!

We wiped out Xander every day and by 4 or 5 pm, no matter where he was Xander couldn't seem to keep his eyes open.

There was a large group of teenage boys. These were the nicest teenage boys I have ever meet. They were so cooperative and pleasant. They ran together in a group and no one was left out. By the last night Xander caught wind of them and wanted to hang out with them the rest of the time - the amazing part was how nice and willing the boys were to play and talk with my boys. I found it fascinating that even though Xander didn't know these kids at all and they were all so much older then him, he had no problems dominating the conversation the WHOLE time he was with them.

We had a campfire one night and they put on an impromptu talent show. People stood up and told jokes, stories and lead camp song. Everyone was more then happy to participate. Even when the official campfire was over a group of teenage boys and a seperate group of adults stayed behind singing different camp songs. It was like the wholesome fun out of leave it to beaver.

We did have a little incident the first night. Soren fell off the top bunk on to the cement floor in the middle of the night. We are so grateful to God we didn't have any neuro injuries or bone fractures. This story is a wee bit longer then the version I am giving you but know that we were truly blessed.

Look at that. All smiles only 10 hrs after the fall. One tough kid.

We went on a hike one day and saw 3 water falls. It was a bit overcast and cold this day and I made Xander wear pants and a light fleece jacket. In true Xander form, 5 minutes after taking this picture Xander striped down to look like this the rest of the hike.

I love this picture with Xander running in the background. Who let him loose? This picture also features Soren shiner.
One of my fellow campers offered to take on of my kids on his bike for the ride back. It isn't as weird as your thinking. I knew this guy from a neighboring ward and we biked together the whole way back.. It was awesome being 70 pounds lighter (he took Soren). I felt like super woman. There was no hill that could defeat me!!! (granted it is more down hill compared to the way there - but shhhh my psyche does not need to know that.)

Like clockwork Xander fell asleep on the ride back just a mile from the ferry. 40# of dead weight is not the same as 40# of weight.

My sister and our family at the finish line. They were great to spend time with on the trip. Xander asks if we can go back about every other day. "Noted. You loved it. But we have to wait a year."